WHO and How Much Sugar?

The WHO guideline recommends that adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake and calls for a further reduction to below 5% to provide additional health benefits.The recommendations are based on analysis of the latest scientific evidence.The sugars guideline is part of the WHO’s effort to reach targets set by the Global Action Plan for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) 2013-2020 to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity and reduce the burden of premature deaths resulting from NCDs. The focus is on 4 types that make the largest contribution to morbidity and mortality-cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes-and on 4 shared behavioral risk factors-tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and harmful use of alcohol

These numbers serve as a general guide to a sensible daily sugar intake, according to the World Health Organization.

The term "free sugars” refers to monosaccharides (eg, glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (eg, sucrose, or table sugar) added to foods and drinks and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates. The WHO guideline does not refer to the sugars in fresh fruits and vegetables and sugars naturally present in milk.

The WHO recommendations are based on analysis of the latest scientific evidence, which shows that:
• Adults who consume less sugar have lower body weight.
• Increasing the amount of sugars in the diet is associated with a weight increase.
• Children with the highest intakes of sugar-sweetened drinks are more likely to be overweight or obese than children with lower intakes.
• Rates of dental caries are higher when the intake of free sugars is above 10% of total energy intake than when below 10%.

“We have solid evidence that keeping intake of (added) sugars to less than 10 percent of total energy intake reduces the risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay.” -Francesco Branca, director of WHO’s nutrition department

These numbers offer a look at the caloric cost of sugar.

Here are some helpful links. (Live links appear in the text.)